Question: If the Supreme is in everything, the Supreme is also in the mind. So how can the mind be bad?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two minds. One mind is extremely nice, extremely divine. The other mind is in the physical consciousness, which is not so nice, not so divine. When we say that the mind is not good, that the heart is better, we are speaking of the physical mind which does not allow us to expand ourselves. It always says, "One at a time, little by little, piece by piece." The mind seems to go very fast, but you have to know that the mind thinks of only one thing at a time. It does not want to embrace existence as a whole.

The mind sees things part by part. If Infinity appears before the mind, the mind will take a part out of the whole and say, "This is the truth." It will take a portion of the Vast rather than accept the Vast in its own way. It will try to scrutinise Infinity itself to see if there is any imperfection in it. But the heart will not do that. As soon as the heart sees the Vast, it will run to it like a child runs to embrace his mother or father. A child does not care to know how great his father is. He knows only that this is his father, and he runs towards him because of his heart's oneness with his father. A child does not yet have a developed mind. His spontaneity is the spontaneity of the heart. But if an adult knows that his father is very great, he will think, "I have to be very careful about how I deal with him, how I speak to him." By this time the mind has entered into the relationship. The mind is subject to its own changeable judgement, whereas the heart judges on the strength of its feeling of identification and oneness and remains faithful to its inner feelings.

Even if the heart sees imperfection, the heart will take the imperfection as its own. When the mother sees the child's imperfections with a soulful consciousness, she feels that since he is her son, they are also her imperfections. But if the mother uses her mind, when she sees imperfection in the child she will become angry and say, "O God, why did You give me such an undivine child?"

God is in everything, true. But if you see a tiger right in front of you, will you go and shake hands with it? No! Water is water, whether it comes from the faucet or from a puddle in the street. But you will not drink the dirty water from the street, because the water from the tap is more pure, more divine. Similarly, you know that God is in everything, but you also have to know that the God that is inside a tiger is not to be worshipped right now because it is not yet manifesting divinity to a very great extent. The Supreme is in the mind also, but when the Supreme is in the heart, He is wider, He is more kind, more compassionate. When we make a comparison between the human mind and the human heart, we see that the heart is more divine.

The mind is not totally bad, but we are making a comparison. We have to know that there are some things better than the mind. Your heart loves God much more than your mind does. That is why we say that the heart is better than the mind. Better than the mind is the heart, better than the heart is the soul. When you realise God, your mind will be under your control. At that time the mind will be very good. But right now the mind is your boss, and it can easily make you feel miserable. When you become the boss of the mind, you will see that the mind becomes divine. At that time I will never say that the mind is bad. But right now the mind you are using is the physical mind. When you use that mind, if I smile at one of your friends, you will become jealous. Your mind will tell you, "Oh, Guru doesn't care for me." But when you use the pure mind, you will immediately say, "Oh, she is my friend after all. She also deserves to get a smile." But until you are able to use the pure mind, you will have no suffering, no anxiety, no doubt, no jealousy if you remain in the heart. The mind makes you feel that we are all separate, but the heart makes you feel that everybody belongs to you. That is why the heart is better. So remain in the heart, pray in the heart, meditate in the heart. Then you will make very fast progress.